~ Omar, with a bit of cheese

Sage & Cheese Clover Rolls

This recipe is ancient. I found it in a hand-written recipe notebook that dates back to 1968. This recipe is probably from about 1970. It’s pre-metrication anyway. I am giving it as written, with notes on what I did today.

Sage and Cheese Clover rolls straight from the oven

Sage & Cheese Clover Rolls

Ingredients

½ oz dried yeast

1 dsp Brown Sugar

¾ pt warm water

1½ lbs wheatmeal flour

2 tsps salt

½ oz lard

2 tsp dried sage

6 oz Grated cheese

Beaten egg to glaze

Notes on Ingredients

I used approx 25gms of fresh yeast, dissolved in one quarter of the liquid, with a teaspoon of soft brown sugar.

I had neither wheatmeal nor wholemeal and so used the last of my Wessex Mill onion flour, which seems to have a brown base of some kind, and made it up with stoneground bread flour.

I cut the salt back by 50%, as I thought the cheese was salty enough without adding so much salt directly.

Sage measures in my household are always well-rounded, if not heaped.

I had just the right amount of white Cheddar in the ‘fridge, so I used Cheddar. Any cheese would do. Presumably Derby would be very good.

Serve with butter

My original notes on how to make the bread are sparse – they go straight from rubbing in the lard to forming the rolls! Fill in the gaps by adding a straightforward bread-making method.

“Make up the bread dough, adding the cheese and sage after rubbing in the lard.

…

Cut off 2 oz pieces, divide into 3 and bake in bun tins at 220°C for ½ hour.

Serve with butter and cheese.”

Or serve without – they are very good plain

Notes on method

I dissolved my yeast in approximately one third of the liquid and added a spoon of sugar – this is not necessary and could be left out but I enjoy sweetness with my onions, whisking in the crumbled fresh yeast with a fork. I pre-warmed the flours, together with the salt and the lard, cut into pieces – leaving both the flour mix and the yeast mix for about ten minutes.

After rubbing in the lard and stirring in my coarsely-grated cheese and the sage, I mixed the dough in the Kenwood, using the hook, and adding sufficient warm water to get a soft dough.

I covered the dough and let it rise until doubled, then knocked it back and formed the rolls.

I made 12 clover rolls in a bun tray by forming 3 balls from each 2oz lump of dough and placing all three into one bun-tray hole, and made the remaining dough into larger rolls, as little cottage loaves – leaving them to prove until they looked ready, about 20 minutes.

The oven was pre-heated to 200 degrees Celsius (fan oven) and the clover rolls baked in just 15 minutes, the larger cottage loaf rolls took twenty minutes in total.

Light and fluffy

Notes on eating

I made these to accompany a Split Pea & Ham soup. Personally I think that, with 6 ounces of cheese in the mix, it is overkill to serve these rolls with cheese – though they are good spread with cream cheese and sandwiched with ham… Best of all warm from the oven, with butter, and a fresh tomato or vegetable soup – or simply as a dinner roll.

They don’t have to be trefoils

If I recall correctly, these rolls toast very well. I have however placed the cottage loaf rolls into the freezer, and will use them for our Christmas Day Hike sandwiches.